


This Wasn't Planned, But I've Seen Worse

by Potato___Child



Series: This Hoodie and Family Is Shared, Though They're Both a Bit Tattered [1]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: :), Eret can teleport, Fluff, Found Family, Gen, How Do I Tag, Hurt Karl Jacobs, Hurt No Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Hybrids, I think?, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Karl Jacobs-centric, Karl acts like its nothing, Karl's a child, Karl's sad and lonely but then he adopts a kid, Kidnapping, Lonely Karl, Pain, Phil is dad, Scars, So can Bad, Some OOC, Temporary Character Death, Trauma, Vomiting, both you ask?, but hey, eret's a child, ha he's being c h a s e d, hah i said he gets comforted ha more p a i n, i suppose he gets comforted in the end, isn't it fun when the whole squad has ~trauma~, its more likely that you'd think, its really not nothing, karl's a older brother/dad, no beta we die like Tubbo at the festival, respawning is a thing, s'all fun and platonic my friends, specially for karl, stab wounds, technoblade shaky b r u h, there's not enough of that, we love characters that's why we hurt them, when you get chased for years you tend to become a bit different
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:53:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 18,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27619325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Potato___Child/pseuds/Potato___Child
Summary: He’s not at home, in his bed.  He looks around.Nothing is familiar. The trees, though he can name them, are strange.“What-“Spawn. He’s at spawn. Oh god.“Hello? Is anybody there?” He yells out. No one responds.“Dream? George? Phil?”His eye sting with tears and they start to stream down his face.“Sapnap? Please somebody answer!”Nobody responds.---Karl's hurt, lost, and needs to go home---Basically I read a fic and thought "DANG THAT'S REALLY GOOD" and ran away with the idea.It maybe a little confusing, so you should read "This Wasn't Planned, But It'll Work Out" by anonymous. You know its a good fic when the fic has a fic. This work follows that one up till about chapter 9, cause I started writing then and deviated away from their story line thinking "why don't I just go n u t s?" yea
Relationships: Alexis | Quackity & Jschlatt, Eret & Jschlatt (Video Blogging RPF), Eret & Toby Smith | Tubbo, Just people and karl, Karl Jacobs & Eret, Karl Jacobs & Everyone, Karl Jacobs & Phil Watson, Karl Jacobs & Toby Smith | Tubbo, Karl Jacobs - Relationship, MORE FRIENDSHIPS WOO!, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Uhhhh - Relationship, i really think that's it, idk, just kinda bs-ing here, no shipping :) - Relationship, we don't do that here :)
Series: This Hoodie and Family Is Shared, Though They're Both a Bit Tattered [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2108721
Comments: 54
Kudos: 311





	1. Chapter All of Them

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [This Wasn't Planned, But It'll Work Out](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27284074) by Anonymous. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alright, this is one big chunk of text so the TW's are gonna be a little difficult to place but here they are
> 
> Kidnapping, Bone breaking, stabbing, death (though temporary), vomiting, scars and bruises, lonlieness, panic attacks, child abuse, explosions, and some cursing! if you want me to try and put when the TWs should show up I will!

Karl’s hurt. He’s taken far away from the Dream House, struggling all the way. He’s being dragged, something with long claws digging into his arms, every rock and stick cutting at his legs and bare feet. It was definitely gonna bruise.

When they finally stop, he’s thrown to the ground. Someone’s standing above him, holding their foot on his chest.

“You got the wrong person. I wanted the one with the mask.” The voice grumbles.

“This was the only on there, sir.”

The person above sighs and look down.

“I suppose this one can send a message.”

He raises his foot and slams it into Karl’s ribs. Karl screams in pain. There’s another kick to his side, then someone stomps on his hand. The screams grow louder.

“What-what do you want?” he says eventually, voice ragged. 

“Where is the masked man?”

_Dream._

“Tell me and I’ll stop.”

Karl spits on the ground.

“Go to hell.”

“Fine.”

He’s still lying on the ground when the foot come down on his nose. Someone stomps on his wrist until it breaks. After his screams subside, he’s lifted into a kneeling position, arms behind his back.

“Tell me where the masked man is.”

“No.”

The man in front of him sighs.

“Fine, have it your way.”

He pulls out his sword. Karl smiles bitterly. Death sucks, but he’ll wake up at home. He’ll be able to take Tubbo and go across the field, get Phil. He’d fought, right? They’d be safe there.

“Have fun at spawn.”

Pain exploded from his ribs as the diamond sword plunged into his chest. He closes his eyes and all goes black.

\---

_Sapnap was scared to go into Karl’s room. What if he was still there, unconscious, injured or worse?_

_Sapnap reminds himself that if 'worse' happened, Karl will respawn in a matter of hours, wake up in his bed like he never left, and be safe. He steels himself and opens the door to an empty and quiet room._

_The fire on his hand flickers when he sees the splinters of a bed frame and ripped blankets lying around the dark bedroom. He doesn't remember how far they wandered from the natural respawn point._

\---

When he wakes up his body is racked in pain and nausea. His wrist aches even though the spawn had set it back in place. His ribs were still bruised, but the cuts and scrapes from being dragged are healed. Stomach clenching, he rolls over and vomits nothing, the bile burning his throat. His hand clutches the dirt as he vomits again.

Dirt.

He’s not at home, in his bed. He looks around.

Nothing is familiar. The trees, though he can name them, are strange.

“What-“

Spawn. He’s at spawn. Oh god. He vomits again.

“Hello? Is anybody there?” He yells out. No one responds.

“Dream? George? Phil?”

His eye sting with tears and they start to stream down his face.

“Sapnap? Please somebody answer!”

Nobody responds.

\---

He spends the night on the forest floor, hugging himself and sniffing his colorful hoodie which still smelled like home. He knows they always joke about Sapnap, being the blaze hybrid that he was, was a portable heater. But tonight, he really misses that.

The next day he surveys himself seeing what damage spawn fixed and what he would have to deal with.

His ribs are still bruised, but no longer broken. His wrist his healed, but when he turns it clicks strangely and gave him a stab of pain. His nose was definitely still broken. He doesn’t bother pop it back into place. The cuts along his arms and legs from the scuffle and the trip are now scars, so is wound on his chest.

And it _hurts_. A lot. Just to move. There’re aches along his arms and it hurts to breathe and his nose is in pain and his heart _aches-_

But someone is after Dream, someone is threatening Tubbo.

He has to get back to the Dream House.

He makes his resolve, and stands up, swaying slightly from the nausea and the pain, but he keep walking. He has to get there, he has to get home.

\---

_“Sir?”_

_“Yes?”_

_“They’ve become more on edge. We haven’t demoralized them. They’re high strung, alert for anything, and searching for the hoodie man.”_

_“Are they going to spawn?”_

_“No. They decided it was too dangerous.”_

_A pause._

_“Sir?”_

_“We’re after the masked man. If the hoodie man will bring him out, bring me the hoodie man.”_

\---

It’s quiet, walking on his own.

At the Dream house there’s always noise, the discs playing, Tubbo yelling, Sapnap screaming across the house.

Karl cries from the quiet sometimes.

He misses them a lot. He wants to fall asleep next to Sapnap on the couch again. He wants to watch cheesy movies with George and Dream again. He wants to play with Tubbo, hear the boy call him Honk again.

God, he really misses them.

The bruising in his ribs goes down, but it takes forever without pots. It hurts every time he swings his axe, as does his wrist, but he keeps going. His hoodie slowly gets patched when he visits and trades at the villages he comes across. But the spot by his neck stays the same. It always smells like home.

He tries to find out where to go, which direction to follow from spawn. But he has no clue where to go. No matter how hard he racks his brain, nothing pops up. So he keeps trekking, looking for clues and moving on.

His communicator is still broken. He hasn’t had a chance to sit down to try and fix it yet. But it’s always black, no notifications or hints at what’s going on.

He’s truly alone.

\---

_Dream comes back late. Sapnap’s the only one up, waiting at the kitchen table. George is in bed with Tubbo, diamond sword beside the bed._

_“Anything?”_

_Dream shakes his head. Sapnap’s shoulders slump._

_“Nothing in the Nether.”_

_A beat._

_“I could go to spawn- “_

_“No.” Dream’s voice is firm. “I can’t let you. They could be after you too.”_

_Sapnap opens his mouth to argue, angry. But then he closes it. He knows Dream’s right. He covers his face with his hands._

_“Karl’s smart. He’ll make it back here. We just…have to wait for him.” Dream rested a hand on his shoulder before hugging him tight._

_Even though he hated it, Sapnap knew it was true._

\---

The first time he’s attacked Karl dies.

It’s the same people as before, hunting after Dream. He turns a corner in a village and there’s people racing after him and he’s running.

“What the honk, what the honk, what the-“

He cries out in pain when an arrow strikes his shoulder. When one hits his head, he wakes up, right at spawn again. There’s a person there, grabbing at him trying to get his arms behind him.

“Stop, stop, stop -!” He struggles, swings his head back, his head connecting with his captor’s jaw. There’s a grunt as the man stumbled backwards. Karl scrambles backwards , searching for a weapon. He grabs a sword and swings at the man.

The sword slices cleanly. The man falls down, then disappears in a puff of smoke.

Karl feels sick.

He collapses to the ground, shivering and crying. He’d killed monsters before, but never a man. He knows the man will respawn, but his mind is still racing, stained with guilt. But one thing is clear.

Someone’s after him and spawn was no longer safe.

\---

_Tubbo’s playing with Tommy. Dream smiles as he watches._

_Their house was fixed now, but the bond between Tubbo and Tommy had grown over the 2 weeks they had been in Phil’s house. Now that they were back in their own house, Tubbo and Tommy were still inseparable._

_“Dad?” Dream glances down at Tubbo in front of him._

_“When’s Honk coming back? I finally made a good crown like he showed me.” He held up the flower crown in his hands._

_“He’s…he’s coming, Tubbs. Don’t worry.” Tubbo narrowed his eyes for a second, before slowly saying, “Ok…”_

_He walked back to Tommy. Dream hoped that he was right._

\---

Karl slowly gets better.

There’s people after him, that’s undeniable. He has to be careful wherever he goes. More than once he’s killed, but he’s smart. He’s got beds placed to keep him away from spawn. More than once he’s cornered, but he’s getting better. He can best people in combat now and he can run faster than most. He’s sure that maybe he could hold his own in a fight against Dream now.

(Maybe.)

(Oh, who’s he kidding, no one could best Dream.)

He’s got more scars now too. Most were from respawn magic, but more of them were coming from his own treatment rather than the respawn.

And yet he never knew if he was closer to the Dream House.

He sits down one day after a long chase (they weren’t following him anymore) and pulls out his comm tablet. Respawn didn’t fix that. There was still a shattered bit in the corner. No matter how many times he pushes the button in the corner it doesn’t come on.

But he’d seen people mess with redstone some, so how difficult could this be.

(Very.)

He’s up till almost dawn, messing with the wires and yelping when they shock him. Finally, he connects two wires and the little tablet screen lights up. It’s still cracked, but it’s so good to see Dream, Phil, George, and Sapnap’s names appear. His eyes start to tear up. He can finally talk to them again.

When he goes to type, the words cut off randomly. He frowns and tries again, but the word cuts off at the 22nd letter.

“WHAT THE HONK!” He yells loudly. He probably shouldn’t yell, but he doesn’t care.

_It’s probably just a bug cause it’s broken._

He carefully thinks then types out.

_coming home, stay safe_

After hitting send, he goes to type more, but the screen goes black, making him tear up. He screams and tosses it, frustrated, angry, sad.

Alone again.

\---

_Tubbo’s at Phil’s when George’s comms tablet goes off. He ignores it._

_“Probably Dream yelling at Sap again,” he mutters to himself._

_Sapnap comes sprinting into the room, eyes filled with tears._

_“George. George-did you get the message? Please say you did, tell me it’s real.”_

_George reaches for his comm tablet._

_“Oh my God…”_

_On the screen, plain as day:_

****

**_Karl Jacobs_ ** _: coming home, stay safe_

_“He’s ok. He’s ok and he’s coming home!” George yells happily._

****

**_George_ ** _: @KarlJacobs are you alright_

****

**_[ Error_msg:_ ** _user not registered **]**_

_“What?” George felt his flicker of hope die down._

_“We know his comms tablet is glitched, something’s probably wrong. He…he has to be coming home.”_

_Safe, the two hoped._

\---

It’s almost a year before Karl has human contact that’s _not_ trying to kill him. He’s in some dark oak woods at the edge of a desert. The desert, of course, is not familiar in any way, neither are the woods. But they help cover him and for him that’s enough.

In the woods there’s a whimpering sound. Karl has his hand on his sword, ready for anything. But as he gets closer, the more he realizes it sounds like a child crying.

“Hello?” He calls out quietly. “Anyone there?”

There’s a yelp and the sound of someone scrambling backwards.

“Stay away from me. I’ve got a weapon.”

The voice, unmistakably accented and young, trembles slightly.

“Hey, it’s okay. I won’t hurt you.”

Karl turns around a tree to see a boy, probably no more than 15, lying on the ground, wooden sword in hand. He’s dirty, covered in cuts and bruises. But the most interesting thing is his eyes, which are white and glowing, and the two goats’ horns sticking out of his head.

He looks so much like Tubbo it hurt.

The boy scrambles backwards at the sight of Karl sword in hand. His breathing starts to become rapid.

“Woah, hey, it’s okay. Look,” Karl drops his sword to the ground and holds his hands in front him in a placating gesture. “No weapon.”

The boy’s breath continues to pick up speed. Soon, he’s dropped his sword and grabbing at his throat.

“I…I can’t -breath,” he starts to wheeze.

“Woah, hey,” Karl slowly approaches the boy. “Is it…is it okay if I come closer?”

The boy shakes his head. Karl nods.

“Ok, that’s fine. Just try to match your breathing with what I saw, ok? In 1, 2, 3, 4. Hold 1, 2, 3, 4. Out 1, 2, 3, 4.”

The boy struggles for a moment to keep up with the breathing, but slowly he got his breathing steadies and is in sync to Karl’s counts.

“You ok?” Karl asks after a moment. And the boy nods.

Karl offers to take the boy to the next town and drop him off. The boy says nothing, just shakes his head, obviously still wary of Karl. Karl looks at his supplies, which are barely enough for him. But the kid has nothing. So he grabs his cloak (he’s fixed his hoodie by now, he’ll be fine), a few pieces of food (there’s plenty of villages in the neighborhood, he’ll pull through), and a few torches (he was most hesitant to let there go, he hated the darkness the most. But if he hates the dark, this kid probably does too).

He drops the items and says, “Here are some things. Take care of yourself.”

Then he continues on.

He has half a mind to follow the boy, make sure he stays safe, but considering his reaction to just seeing him, he decides against it.

Then he gets into a tangle with a skeleton one day and runs out of bandages. He stares woefully at his hoodie before carefully taking it off. It’s the last piece of clothing he can spare besides that cloak he gave to that kid a few days back. He pulls out his sword to tear the fabric-

“Here.”

The voice is deep, but unmistakably a child’s. He turns and there’s the goat hybrid boy from a few days ago, holding out a few strips of white cloth.

“Oh. Thank you.” Karl awkwardly grabs the makeshift bandages and wraps them around the wound in his arm.

They sit in silence for a few moments.

“I was following you.” The boy says, glowing eyes turned away from Karl. “You…you’re one of the first few people who’s been nice to me in a while.”

It doesn’t pass Karl’s notice that he’s a kid, and he shouldn’t have to say that and _he’s covered in cuts and bruises._ Karl nods.

“You too.”

Another pause.

“I’m going some place safe, if you’d like to join me.” Karl says suddenly. He’s not sure why he says it, but the boy looks so much like Tubbo and as God as his witness he was going to protect this boy.

To his surprise, the boy asks, “Where?”

“My home.”

“Where is that?”

Karl takes a second to respond, because in all honesty he really doesn’t know.

“I’m…not sure. I’m still looking. But it’s safe.”

“Even for me?”

_Even for a hybrid?_ was left unsaid.

“Sure! One of my best friends is a blaze hybrid.”

The boy is quiet. He doesn’t say a word for a long time. Then-

“I’m not sure. Do you-do you mind if I travel with you some? Maybe to the next village?”

Karl beams.

(He may be an adult, but he’s a child at heart. He misses friends and comfort and the fact that no one has touched him kindly in over a year is killing him.)

“Alright. On we go.”

\---

_Eret still dreams at night of his little brother._

_Sometimes he wonders if he’s still there or if that family was taking care of him._

_Sometimes he dreams of his father, looming over him and Tubbo, sneering at them._

_“If you weren’t so pathetic, maybe you could do something.”_

_Eret had._

_He just hated that it involved Tubbo being alone._

-

_In a field a replacement comes for Honk._

_Tubbo knows that they aren’t really replacing Honk, because they still go looking for him every month. But he can’t help but feel like it was._

_The Enderman-Demon hybrid is kind and loves muffins._

_Tubbo misses Honk._

\---

It’s completely and utterly unfair that the kid is taller than Karl. And not by a sliver, a solid 2 or 3 inches.

Karl knows he’s always been short, but a _child_? It’s almost insult to injury.

The kid is quiet most of the time. He tries to stay a distance away from Karl, which he can respect. Something happened to this kid and if this made him feel comfortable, that’s fine.

Something that’s strange to Karl is how serious the kid is. He’s silent, his voice is deep, he never tries to act like a kid either.

(Karl’s reminded of Techno. They were around the same age, but Techno he’s seen smile before.)

Karl feels immature next to the kid. Always groaning in frustration or singing silly songs. (Or wanting to go over and hug the kid cause they both need it right now). He laughs loudly and dances as he travels.

The kid doesn’t seem to know what to think of it.

(The kid doesn’t know that Karl can hold his own in a fight, the he can stay silent for hours at a time, that he’s sent countless people to respawn.)

(He’s not sure if he wants him to know the last bit.)

They (capital T) don’t come after Karl for a while. He has one or two months of peace, traveling with this kid. He doesn’t know his name but then again, the kid doesn’t speak much. Which is fine, Karl fills the silence with his own jabber, talking about nothing for hours on end. It’s nice to have someone to talk to.

And then They show up one night.

Karl’s talking one night beside the fire. The kid’s across from him glancing up occasionally from the sword he’s sharpening. There’s an almost smile on his lips. It’s enough for Karl.

Karl’s laughing when the kid’s eyes go wide and he starts to scramble backwards, terrified by something.

“What’s-?”

Hands grab his shoulders and shove him roughly to the floor. He yells, familiar panic filling his veins. He grabs his sword and swings. Whoever’s holding him down lets go to avoid the blade. Karl jumps up and yells, “GET OUT OF HERE,” to the kid before attacking.

He hadn’t fought anyone in a while. (Besides mobs, but they hardly counted.) The fights last too long, but Karl yells and cuts the man down. He dissolves into smoke.

Like always, Karl is shaky after the kill. He sits head buried in his knees. _He thought he was safe, he thought they were gone._ He jumps when someone touches his shoulder, hand going to his sword.

“It’s me.” The kid’s voice is shaky with fear. But he sits down next to Karl, shoulder touching shoulder.

(It’s the closest Karl has ever been to this kid.)

“I understand if you want to leave.” Karl says quietly. The kid is quiet. Then he stands up. Karl’s heart drops. He wants to beg him to stay, but he doesn’t say a word. Karl just killed a man in front of him, that’s enough to warrant leaving.

“He got your leg.” Karl jolts out of his thoughts when the boy speaks. He’s in front of him holding a roll of bandages. His hand is shaking and his breath is a little rapid, but his gaze doesn’t waver.

Karl takes the bandages and starts to wrap his leg.

“Eret.”

“What?” Karl looks up, startled.

“My name is Eret.”

\---

_“Sir.”_

_“Yes, report.”_

_“We were unable to capture the hoodie man.”_

_A groan._

_“This hunt is fruitless. There’s no need to chase him now.”_

_“Sir, there has been a development.”_

_“Yes?”_

_“He has a goat-enderman hybrid boy with him.”_

_A pause, then a laugh._

_“I take it back, maybe this_ is _worth it.”_

_A smile._

_“Bring me both.”_

\---

Karl expects that Eret will leave at the next village.

He doesn’t.

Instead he starts to open up.

He smiles and talks more, even teasing Karl about his height. (Karl scowls at that.) He’s still quiet, but he doesn’t mind when Karl touches his arm or hugs him. (Sometimes, during his shift at night, Karl can see

Eret whimpering from nightmares. He sits close enough to that his touch is comforting but doesn’t wake him.)

He acts older, but Karl is often struck by how young he really is. His smiles, though rare, have a bit of a gap tooth, and his laughs, even rarer, make him look younger. He eats what he has like he’s starving (“Take this, I’m full now.” “I won’t take your food.” “You’re a growing kid, you’ve got to be starving. Sides, like I said, I’m full.”) and he doesn’t know how to fight. Which terrifies Karl.

“One of these days,” Karl says while Eret patches him up from an impromptu skeleton ambush. “I’m gonna teach you how to shoot a bow.”

“I don’t really need to know.” Eret says absently, eyes furrowed in concentration from tying the bandages just right. “I can actually run, unlike someone.”

Karl squawks from indignation.

“I can run! I’m just too busy saving you ass for you to notice. And you need to know just in case something happens to me.”

  
Eret’s hands still. Karl can hear his breath start to pick up.

“Woah, woah, it’s ok.” He turns to face Eret, who has squeezed his eyes shut. “It’s ok, I’m not going anywhere.” He hugs him tight. “Just in case I need some help in a fight.” Eret nods, but Karl doesn’t let go.

In the end, Eret falls asleep with a blanket draped over him and his head in Karl’s lap. He cards his fingers through Eret’s hair as he hums.

These are the times he thinks of home. Many times, Karl just wishes he could take Eret home so he could be safe and not on the run. Dream would love him. So would Sapnap and George. He has a feeling that he and Techno would get along well too. And Tubbo would have someone to look up to that looked like him.

Tubbo. Karl wonders how he is right now. It’s been almost two years since he saw him last. He wonders if his horns had grown like Eret’s had, or if he still remembers Honk.

He hopes he does.

-

The next time they reach a village, Karl manages to trade for some arrows.

He was never overly good with a bow, that’s more Dream’s or George’s thing. But he knows enough to survive, and that’s just as much Eret needs to know too.

As it turns out, Eret’s pretty good with a bow, much better than Karl.

(Eret doesn’t say a thing, but Karl can feel him smirk)

He never uses it in real combat, maybe a skirmish with a zombie or two. He practices to keep his skills honed, just like Karl does.

(Karl’s gotten better. A lot better. No one’s come after them in a while, but Karl knows he can fight now, enough to defend two people.)

(Should it come to it, defending three or more. Tubbo and the rest are never far from his thoughts.)

The first time Eret shoots a person is about a year after they met up.

They’re attacked at night, while Eret’s sleeping. Karl’s humming quietly as he patches his hoodie where it ripped the other day. There’s a rustle behind him and instantly he’s on edge. He grabs his sword and stands at alert, positioning himself between the noise and Eret.

“Who’s there?”

There’s no response. Then there’s the twang of a bow, and Karl spins out of way of an arrow. Somebody emerges from the shadows of the trees.

(Karl doesn’t try to recognize their faces, they all blend together.)

He grips his sword tighter, ready to be on the defense, to send another person to spawn. Then two other people emerge beside him. Karl had fought multiple people before. But then he was never scared to die and be sent back to his most recent hidden bed. Now, he had Eret to defend.

“Look, we don’t have to fight. I’ll give you supplies, if that’s want you want.”

One of them chuckle.

“It’s not things we’re after.”

Karl pauses, confusion spreading. They use that to their advantage, jumping on him.

Panic filled, Karl rolls, parries, slashes, attacks. There’s close call, way too many close calls, but he still fights. Things start to look up when his sword sinks into one of their stomachs, making them disappear in a puff of smoke. One down, two to go.

He turns, bringing his sword down on one of the others, only to be blocked by a shield. He ducks to avoid their sword, then stabbed them right below their ribs.

(In some crooked fashion, it was almost satisfying to stab where this hellhole had started for him.)

Suddenly, a sword swung and caught his side. He screams in pain, collapsing to the ground. The man was standing above him and the world was going dark and there was so _so much pain-_

With a thunk, and arrow sinks into the man’s chest. He barely looks down before he is smoke too.

Karl turns to where Eret stands, glowing eyes wide, bow still in hand.

The last thing Karl registers is how young he looked with a blood-stained weapon in his hand. 

\---

_Honk’s name changed over time in the Dream House._

_First, when it was said, a silence would fall over the room. Tubbo would want to cry, remembering Honk and his funny jokes and his silly smile._

_After some time, it made Tubbo angry. Angry at the people who stole Honk, angry at Bad for trying to replace Honk, angry at Honk for leaving._

_Then it was bittersweet. Sad smiles would cross faces, jokes were made about “When he gets back-“, memories were recalled._

_Slowly, the jokes about “When he gets back-“ faded away. Honk’s room became more like Bad’s, and the shard Tubbo had in his room became something more of memories than a promise. It was almost like Honk was dead._

_Tubbo knew he wasn’t._

_But it felt like that. And no matter how much he hated it, he couldn’t help but feel it too. He put Honk in that part of his mind where his sibling lived. Still out there, but more memory than person._

_He hated it._

_But he accepted it too._

\---

When Karl wakes up, he feels pain. Lots of it.

He tries to sit up, but there’s a hand on his chest.

“Sit back down, you’re still hurt.”

Eret’s standing over him. The kid still looks so young.

“What happened?”

Eret inhales shakily.

“You…you got stabbed. In your side. I managed to clean it. I’m not sure if it hit anything important. But I used some of that potion we found.”

Karl looks at Eret’s eyes, which are screwed shut, tears spilling over the edges.

“This was all my fault.”

Now _that_ took Karl by surprise.

“No, it’s not-“

“It is.”

Silence.

“What makes you say that?”

“My dad…wasn’t the greatest. He had a lot of power, and he abused his power…amongst other things. I had a little brother. But he and I kept getting hurt, and he was so little and I just couldn’t. So I helped him. I got him out. I haven’t seen him in years.” There is a pause, a shaky inhale of breath. “I got him out, but I didn’t. And it just got worse.”

Karl sees red. Eret, a _child_ , had been hurt enough that he’d set his little brother off on his own. He was going to rip that motherhonker to shreds.

“I got out. Eventually. And I began to run. At first there were people following me, but then they stopped. I guess they assumed I was good as dead.”

“I traveled alone for a long time. Then I met you, and you showed me what it’s like to be…” He hesitates.

Karl puts a hand on his arm.

“What it’s like to be loved. And those people last night, I knew some of them, they work for my dad. They’re after me again, and they’re hurting you to get to me and it’s all my fault-“ He starts to hyperventilate.

Karl, despite the pain, sits up the best he can and hugs Eret close. It’s awkward, because of how Karl’s half sitting and how tall Eret is. But Eret buries his head in Karl’s shoulder nonetheless, crying his tears and letting Karl rub his back.

“I-I’m sorry I put you in danger. I’m just like him, I put people in danger, I _hurt_ people-“

“Don’t apologize.” Karl says firmly. “It’s his fault, nobody else’s. And I swear if I ever see him, I’ll destroy him.”

“I _killed_ someone.”

Oh. The man that hurt Karl.

“That was self-defense. That wasn’t the harm of children, or attacking people for no reason. You were trying to defend yourself, trying to defend _me_. I wouldn’t be here right now if not for you. I’d be in some random bed, throwing up, in pain, and worrying about you. You’re not your dad, ok? You’re better, you’re more, and-and, _honk_ , kid. You’ve been through so much. I’m really proud of you.”

Eret nodded into Karl’s shoulder. Karl hugged him tighter.

“It’s ok, I’m here.”

-

Karl, with the help of another dose of the healing potion, is up and running two days later. He’s still got pain sometimes, but no more than normal. (Old scar tissue pulls strange, his wrist still clicks sometimes, and the scar on his chest still tightened if he bent too far back.)

Eret walks closer to him now, even venturing to take his hand now and then. It makes Karl smile, seeing Eret be a kid.

There isn’t much said about his past, no need to bring up old memories, but he did start to ask after Karl’s.

“So-“ Eret says one day after a long story time. “You are the friend of a blaze hybrid, who was friends with two humans who all moved out into the middle of nowhere where a kid got adopted and neighbors, a family of hybrids, moved in before you were captured and sent to spawn?”

“Yep.” Karl pops the p. He continues to walk, hand on his sword hilt out of habit. Eret walks beside him bow slung over his shoulder, his quiver over his shoulder and his red cloak. (Karl had gotten [stole] it from a nearby village. Eret couldn’t keep his eyes off it in the shop window and he deserved to have somethings he liked.)

“You really are a strange bunch, huh?”

Karl smiles.

“Yeah, we really are. But we’re a family.”

“Do you miss them?”

Karl’s smile falters.

“Every day.”

“Do you ever wish you’d never got lost?”

Karl opens his mouth to say yes, but glances at Eret and stops. The kid’s looking away, intentionally avoiding his eyes.

“Nah, if I didn’t get lost I wouldn’t have met you. ‘Sides, you didn’t know how to fight at all, you wouldn’t last a day without me.”

Eret chuckles softly.

“ _I_ wouldn’t last a day? Please, you can’t cook to save your life.”

“My food is edible!’

“Maybe, but does it taste good?”

Karl just stares at Eret.

“I can’t believe this. This is the thanks I get for taking a blade for you?”

“Hey, I was the one who could cook well enough to make sure you didn’t poison yourself.”

Karl makes an offended sound and places a dramatic hand on his chest. Eret looks over at him and laughs loudly.

They continue to walk on, comfortable silence settling over them.

Yeah, Karl isn’t glad that he was lost, but he’s glad that he found Eret.

\---

_“We’ve locked in their location, sir. If we bring enough men, we can take them both easily.”_

_A finger tapping a chin._

_“The child is vital, the hoodie man not. If you can get the hoodie man, do so. If he stands between you and the child…”_

_A smile._

_“Kill him.”_

\---

Karl doesn’t like to hand off watch to Eret, but he really does love to sleep.

Sleep in the beginning was hard, because he had to sleep on the ground. He couldn’t risk being found in a bed, dying, and ending up at respawn. It was also hard because there was no reassurance that in the morning, he’d be home and have breakfast ready when he woke up.

Slowly it got easier, though. Especially if someone was watching his back.

(He still sleeps with one eye open and one ear cocked.)

When the moon reaches its peak in the sky, he gently shakes Eret awake.

“Hey, time for your watch.”

Eret looks around groggily before nodding and sitting up. Karl makes sure he’s completely awake before untying his hoodie from around his waist and putting it on. He lays down close to Eret and starts to drift off.

Then he hears the drawing of a sword.

Instinctively, he lunges at Eret and tackles him to the ground. He draws his own sword (diamond now, and enchanted) and raises it up to block an attack. 

Netherite meets diamond and sparks fly. The man brings his sword back and swings again.

Karl stands up to block, and then swings. He steps through the smoke only to be met by another sword. He blocks it clumsily. An arrow sinks into his opponent’s head and the man disappears into smoke. Karl hears Eret draw back his bow again and another arrow flies, hitting someone in the trees, making them disappear with a shout.

There’re more people than usual. A lot more people than usual. Karl can hardly keep up as he sends countless people back to spawn or to whatever bed they have in place. Eret continued to fire arrows as Karl fought. There’s definitely a lot more people than usual. Karl slices down another and looks for the next opponent.

There’s a shout from behind him and Karl turns to see Eret struggling in the grip of a large man holding him tight.

Karl freezes.

“Let him go!” He makes to jump for Eret, but the man brings his sword up to Eret’s throat. Eret’s struggling, looking panicked with tears pricking at his eyes.

“I wouldn’t step any closer if I were you.” The man smiles viciously.

Karl stops, frozen.

“Please. Just let him go.”

“I don’t think I will. My boss needs him back.”

“I can take you to the masked man!”

There he sees hesitance.

_Please take the bait, please let him go-_

“No, I think this is more important.”

“Then take me too.”

_Then we can figure something out, we can get out together, just don’t let him be alone-_

“No. You’ve caused me and my men a lot of pain these past few years. Boss has decided the masked man isn’t worth It anymore.” A cruel smile spreads across the man’s face. “And neither are you.”

Someone stabs Karl from behind, making him scream. He can hear Eret scream too. He tries to stand up, to fight, but he’s kicked back down to the ground with a groan.

“I’ve been killed by you multiple times, you know that? I think I’ll let you bleed out here. Dying from blood loss can take hours, if the wound is done right. Many, _many_ painful hours.” Something slams into his face, rebreaking his nose just like those many years ago.

“Get the boy out of here, leave this man to die.”

There was shuffling, yelling, the screams of Eret, the pound of horse hooves, and then everything was silent except for his sobs. Karl was alone again.

\---

_Quackity had been by Schlatt’s side for years._

_He’d seen a lot of crap, from when Schlatt was just a business man trying to get by to when he was a powerful tyrant with men under his rule, all begging for the diamonds and netherite he had._

_Worst of all, he’d seen the way his sons looked sadder and more ragged every day. And he’d done nothing. That’s what he regretted most._

_When the older boy had come home one evening and the younger was gone, he couldn’t help but feel fear for the kid. Schlatt was angry for weeks. Quackity didn’t see the boy for weeks. Until one day on his patrol he watched a small figure jump from a window in the giant home where Schlatt lived._

_The kid was terrified when he saw Quackity. He’d started to beg, saying he’d go back and be quiet if Quackity said nothing._

_Quackity just silently handed him the loaf of bread that was supposed to be his dinner and walked on._

_He hoped that that was enough._

_Then Schlatt started to take his anger out on those by him. Quackity, that is. Quackity, who’d been by his side since the beginning. Quackity who’d stood by him even when he knew this was wrong._

_He’d call him names, insult him in front of his men, saying he was his right-hand man, a yes man, someone who was made to followed compliantly. But Quackity stayed quiet. He was loyal to Schlatt._

_Then when he heard that the boy had been found and was being chased, he became worried, worried that the kid would be caught again._

_So when he heard there was a hunting party going out for him, he joined. Who else would question Schlatt’s right hand?_

_And when he watched the hoodie man beg for the boy’s life and safety, there was nothing he could do but watch him collapse to the ground, fighting for the same cause Quackity had contributed to so long ago._

_But now everyone was gone._

_Now maybe something could be done._

\---

Karl barely registers someone holding a glass to his lips.

“Drink this.”

The familiar watermelon scent of a healing potion wafts up, and Karl chugs the bottle. After a minute or so, he can feel his blood slow and his side start to stitch itself back together.

Something drops in his lap.

“This compass will lead you to where they took the kid. On the west wall there’s a door. Don’t worry about guards, there aren’t any. If you follow the red carpet it’ll take you to a throne room. There won’t be anyone in there, just go behind the throne and there’ll be a trapdoor. It’ll take you to the kid. The pot won’t heal everything, so I hope you can ride a horse while you’re in pain.”

Then the man is gone.

“What the honk…?” The pain is subsiding and the words are processing in his head. What had just happened?

He isn’t sure, but now he had a lead to Eret. He stands, grunting in pain. The compass, like the man said, doesn’t point North, instead somewhere to the West. A horse is grazing to his right, saddled and ready to go. Whoever this man is, he’s gone now, but Karl can’t help but appreciate his thoroughness. He hadn’t ridden a horse in a long time and it hurt to climb into the saddle, but he does so anyways.

Following the compass, he takes off.

“I’m coming Eret.”

\---

_When Quackity gets back, Schlatt’s waiting for him._

_“What took you so long?”_

_Quackity shrugged._

_“Making sure he was dead.”_

_Schlatt smiled cruelly._

_“Knew I could count on you.”_

_These moments were the ones that threw Quackity off. When Schlatt seemed almost proud of him. Such was the way of the manipulator._

_“I need your help with some plans.” He pulled out a map and laid it down on the table. “I’m planning on building something right here, but I’m not sure what to build.”_

_Quackity smiled a tight smile and looked at the map._

_“Wait, Schlatt. That’s not somewhere you can build.”_

_“Why not?”_

_“There’s a town there. It’s where I grew up.”_

_“Oh really? You told me about that place, yeah? It’s where your parents abandoned you right? I’m planning on leveling it with my new shipment of TNT.”_

_“Wait, no Schlatt! That’s not right, there’s kids there. People live there.”_

_“Yea, but I’m thinking of building something new. Something better.”_

_“No. You can’t.”_

_Schlatt laughed loudly._

_“YOU’RE telling ME what I can’t do? Let me tell you something, bud.” Schlatt poked a finger into Quackity’s chest. “I know what you did. He’s back now, but I know you did it. You’re powerless. You can’t even stand up to me, not for yourself, not for your town. You’re only here right now because of me. You are **powerless.** ”_

_Schlatt stood back, breathing hard. “Well, now that we’re done with that.” He straightened his tie._

_“The TNT is in the basement. We’ll start to plant it tomorrow.”_

_Quackity nodded silently._

_When Schlatt was gone, he whispers “Alright, Mr. President. Alright.”_

_\---_

The mansion is there, just like the man said it was. So is the door. Karl opens it and walks through the hallways.

“I’m coming Eret,” he whispers to no one. “I’m almost there.”

_How many times had he thought that about the Dream House?_

The red carpet leads down hallways, twisting and turning through the ginormous house. Karl stops at a few chests, peeking into them and grabbing the potions and the golden apples inside of them. The place is eerily silent, no guards, no servants, just the almost silent pat of Karl’s feet as he ran through the halls.

Finally at the end of the hallway there is a large opening. The man had been right so far.

When he walks into the throne room, he stops, eyes on the throne.

“Well hello there.”

A goat hybrid sat on the throne, smiling wide.

“Who the honk are you?”

“You don’t recognize me? I’m offended.”

“You’re Eret’s father.”

“Well, yes. But you knew me before that.”

Realization hits Karl and he wants to throw up. The voice belonged to the man who slid the sword between his ribs, cut him off from his family.

“There we are, you remember me now.”

\---

_Schlatt’s telling the truth when he says the TNT is in the basement. Extremely convenient for Quackity._

_TNT is easy to place if you’re bitter, Quackity finds out. He places it so the hoodie man and the kid won’t get hurt if they’re caught in the cross fire. The jail cell’s made of obsidian, and there’s a window and a way out._

_Quackity knows respawn hurts, especially if your bed is destroyed._

_(Everyone’s bed in the castle will be destroyed.)_

_He knows it’s gonna hurt him._

_But it’ll hurt Schlatt too._

_Yea, TNT’s easy to place if you’re bitter._

\---

“So.” The goat hybrid opens his arms wide, a wicked grin on his face. “You’re the hoodie man. I’m Schlatt, though _President_ Schlatt to you.”

“Where. The _hell_. Is my kid?” Karl swallows the bitter bile in his throat.

“Your kid? Wow, possessive, are we? I think it’s kinda weird for _my_ kid to be missing for almost two years and then you pop up demanding him back from his loving home.”

“You were never loving. You were never kind.”

“And yet back here he is.”

There’s a shuffle and Eret’s dragged out from behind the throne. Karl wants to cry.

His lip is bust and there’s bruises all over him. He limps when he walks and he looks so _small_. But he sees Karl there and his eyes light up.

_I’m here,_ he mouths. _I’ll get you out_.

“Let go of him.”

Schlatt laughs.

“Or what?”

“Or I’ll detonate the place.” A voice says from behind Karl.

It’s the man, the guy with the healing potion and the compass.

Schlatt laughs.

“Quackity! Good of you do join the party, padre!”

“I’m serious, Schlatt.”

“And I know you’re faking.”

“I’m tired of your _shit_ Schlatt. I’ve been by your side since the beginning. I’ve always been loyal to you.”

“Loyal like the little lap-dog you are.”

“NO!”

Karl starts to inch towards the throne. Eret’s shaking his head violently, but Karl continues to inch forward.

“I am MORE than just your toy to be tossed around. I have been by your side as you abused people, abused a _child_ , chased after innocents, ruined people’s lives. And I-“ He lifts up the stick of TNT high in his hand, “-am _done with your **shit**_ **.”**

Karl realizes the end of the dynamite is lit and he sprints at Eret, disregarding any weapons that might pointed at him. The dynamite drops from Quackity’s hands and hits the ground.

Karl shields Eret with his own body as the explosions start.

\---

_Dream heard news in his travels of a mansion that exploded far off, the home of some corrupt business man that destroyed everything in his path, even people._

_He can’t help but feel relief._

_Yes, the man will respawn and probably try to rebuild his empire, but he’s been set back for now. His spheres of influence gone._

_He also heard about the fact that most made it out alive, but some innocents were caught in the cross-fire. He pities whoever had to go through the painful process of respawn, of losing everything besides the clothes on their backs._

_He also can’t help but think of Karl._

_Where was he now?_

_-_

_When Eret wakes up, he and Karl are outside the debris. Karl’s wincing as he wraps bandages around burns on his arms and back._

_His mind, a part of it is still trapped in that house, that damned mansion. His father standing over him asking if he really though he could get away with it._

_The other part is fixated on how Karl ran in, asked for_ his _kid, took the brunt of an explosion for him._

_Karl glances over and sees him up._

_“Oh hey! Are you okay? I tried to fix you up while you were out but-“_

_“Did you mean it?” Eret cuts him off._

_“What?”_

_“When you said I was your kid?”_

_There’s a pause._

_“Yeah, I did.”_

_Eret cries again, but this time it’s tears of joy._

\---

Karl still hurts.

He managed to get them out of the explosions as much as he could, only getting some burns on his back and arms. They were lucky enough to have a space that Karl could crawl through and drag Eret

He gripes about it to Eret, who chuckles and puts more burn salve on his back.

“You’re the idiot who jumped in the middle of explosions _and_ decided it was a good idea to drag us out of there.”

“ _Hey!_ ”

Everything’s said in good nature and good fun, but Karl can see the joy in Eret’s face, knowing now he’s finally _free_. And that Karl didn’t regret calling him his kid.

Karl is just filled with warmth whenever he can look at Eret and see him relaxed and happy.

(He wonders if this is how Dream feels.)

They travel more, now really in search of the Dream House. Karl feels like they’re getting closer, like they’ve almost reached it, like it’s just around the next turn or over the next mountain.

And then one day they stumble across something.

It’s some old random dirt building, with ridiculous windows and colorful flowers on the roof. There’re signs all around it with familiar statements jokingly written on the wood. It looks stupid and primitive.

But Karl recognizes it.

“Karl? You okay?”

“We built this.” Karl’s rushing inside and sure enough there are three beds there, one purple, one white, one blue. “We built this when one day we thought we were too far from the house. And-and I put bone meal all around the house just so we could dye our beds. And we were only just a day’s walk away from home.”

“We’re near?”

Karl just stares at the beds.

_He’s so close._

“Do you know where to go?”

“Karl?”

“I know how to get home.”

Eret’s filled with relief.

“You can take us home? You can take us there?!”

(When your home became our home Karl’s not sure, but he feels happy hearing it.)

“Yeah! I can!”

Karl whoops with joy. He grabs Eret’s hands and he starts to dance with him.

He’s so close. He’s almost home.

\---

_There was a time when Sapnap hear a knock on the door, he’d sprint there, hoping maybe it was Karl finally come home._

_He knew that it was unlikely now._

_There’s a knock on the door now, and Sapnap yells “I’LL GET IT.”_

_The gang’s all here (except Bad, he’s visiting Skeppy at the moment), and George yells “WELL HURRY UP AND GET IT BEFORE THEY LEAVE.”_

_Sapnap laughs and goes to the door._

\---

They run without stopping.

They keep going cause they’re almost there, _they’re almost there_.

Everything looks familiar now. The lava pool that Dream insisted they used to make a nether portal, the mountain that they used for mining. They’re so close.

And then he sees the field. The two houses on the opposite sides, the bees lazily drifting through the air, the flowers swaying in the wind. The house looks the same, save a field in the back with a few rows of wheat. The same front door, the same windows, the same smoke drifting out of the same chimney. It looks exactly like it did all those years ago.

When Eret sees it, he stiffens.

(Karl’s not stupid, he’s connected the dots. He sees the similarities between Eret’s and Tubbo’s stories, how they look similar enough. He doesn’t say anything, though. Eret will tell him when the time comes.)

They go to the door and they’re right there. Where Karl’s been trying to go for the past five years. His breathing starts to pick up. _What if they’ve forgotten him? What if they’ve replaced him? What if-_

“Karl?”

He attention’s brought to Eret’s small voice.

“Yea?”

“I-do you mind if I stand off to the side?”

Karl blinks then smiles.

“Yeah, I can introduce you if you want.”

Eret nods and steps out of the vision of the door.

Karl takes a deep breath and knocks.

\---

Sapnap ( _when was the last time he heard Sapnap’s voice?_ ) yells “I’LL GET IT!” from inside, loud enough that Karl can hear it.

The door swings open, and Sapnap freezes.

Karl realizes how different he looks in that moment. His hair had grown long enough to pull into a small ponytail, his nose is crooked from being broken twice, his hoodie (repaired who knows how many times) is tied around his waist and his short-sleeved shirt doesn’t cover the numerous scars going up and down his arms.

“…Karl?” Sapnap’s voice is quiet, broken with emotion.

“Hey Sap.”

Sapnap lunges at Karl and then Karl’s being hugged by him. He’s so warm and feels like home and Karl starts to cry again.

Dream’s voice filters through Karl’s sobs.

“Who’s at the door?”

Karl looks up and meets Dream’s gaze and Dream yells “OH MY GOD KARL!” and then Dream’s hugging him and he’s crying too, his mask dropped and Karl’s head is buried in his shoulder. Then George is there, crying and hugging him too.

“HONK!”

And then there’s Tubbo, grabbing at his sweatshirt and sobbing into his leg. _Oh God he’s gotten so big, but it’s still Tubbo, he still remembers him-_

But it doesn’t feel quite right yet.

When the hug breaks apart, Karl says, “I brought a friend.”

He gestures to Eret, who steps forward.

He takes one look at Tubbo and whispers “Tubbo?”

He takes a step forward, looking at Tubbo who looked so healthy and so happy. And then Tubbo runs at Eret and hugs him. Eret’s crying now, hugging Tubbo, whispering “We’re safe now, we’re safe. He’s gone.”

Dream looks at Karl, who nods and smiles.

Karl’s home now, home with his family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DANG THIS WAS 45 PAGES ON A WORD DOCUMENT
> 
> hope y'all liked that, there's gonna be an epilogue up soon, just what people think of their return
> 
> PLEASE GO READ "THIS WASN'T PLANNED BUT IT'LL WORK OUT" 
> 
> IT IS A PIECE OF GOD WORK


	2. Not an Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karl and Eret try to heal
> 
> Then wounds reopen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi.
> 
> i lied.
> 
> So originally the epilogue was only gonna be the first Sapnap, Phil, and Dream parts with maybe some extra closure at the end but BOY OH BOY MY HANDS STARTED TO R U N A W A Y! So here's the (not) epilogue with periodic Eret interludes, probably gonna add more just because i'm a sucker for hurt comfort. :)
> 
> Also some ideas I had revolving around respawn mechanics! Respawn takes 1/2-10 hours depending on how you died. Respawn kinda has only a certain amount it's allowed to heal you after you die. Normally it's enough to just get rid of everything all together, but if you're hurt enough, it has to pick and choose what is more serious, sometimes leaving people in bad condition/critical condition/comas even after respawn. If there's a missing limb or something like that, respawn doesn't fix it. It's gone. 
> 
> TW (again, it's difficult to place these, cause instead of being a sane person, I post blocks of text instead of chapters):
> 
> scars (a lot), panic attacks, referenced abuse, referenced kidnapping, violence, explosions, vomit, fire (a lot), crying (there's actually like a lot of crying. like i'm not even joking, there's a lot of crying. maybe too much) if I'm missing any, please tell me!
> 
> also!! i did a lot with panic attacks, but if i'm representing wrong or have some facts off, please tell me!
> 
> sorry about the wait, but here it is! The (not) Epilogue

The first night back at home, nobody sleeps in their own bed.

Everyone’s tangled on the living room floor, a mass of blankets and pillow and limbs. Karl’s sleeping in the center of everyone, Tubbo sandwiched between him and Eret on his back, his head in Dream’s lap next to George’s head, and Sapnap in his arms.

It’s warm, unlike the cold nights on his own. Karl missed this.

It takes time to adjust. Sometimes he wakes up in the middle of the night in a panic and can’t find Eret by his side. Sometimes he wakes up and Eret’s curled up in his bed.

(Many times it’s Eret and Tubbo. Those nights are better.) Sometimes he can’t fall asleep, the watch system he and Eret had forever locked in his mind. (Sometimes Eret shakes him awake with an apology. Karl gets it. Eret falls asleep with his head in Karl’s lap, Karl falls asleep with his hands in Eret’s hair.)

When they have a party because of Karl and Eret came home, Karl loves it. There’s people and food and warmth and lights and noise.

And then it gets too loud and too warm and too bright. He’s back at spawn suddenly, someone grabbing his shoulders, trying to suffocate him. Phil notices and pulls him off into a side room. Karl cries into the older man’s shoulder. He tells him everything that happened. He hadn’t told anybody else, only Phil knew.

(They go back to the party eventually. Karl’s better then, a weight lifted off his shoulders.)

(Phil, in consequence, feels heavier that such a young man had to go through such an ordeal.)

Things get better though.

He’s home and he’s with his family. There’s nothing more he could want.

\---

The first time they go swimming, just Sapnap, George, and Karl, Sapnap’s excited.

Dream is off running some errands, Tubbo and Eret are off at Phil’s and for the first time in a very long time, it’s just Karl, George, and Sapnap. Just like old times.

They go to the old swimming hole where they always used to swim. The rope on the tree is still there and so are their initials carved into the rock. (Dream’s too, but green boy’s not here right now.)

“Last one in’s a rotten egg!” Karl shouts. He throws his sword to the side, pulls off his shirt and jumps into the water.

Sapnap laughs and jumps in too, dragging down George with him.

_“_ WAIT NO SAPNAP MY SHIRT-“

Sapnap just laughs and then they’re both underwater. When they resurface, Karl’s splashing them. George barely has time to peel off his shirt before he’s got a face full of water too.

Sapnap screams as Karl tries to dunk him under the water, narrowly avoiding Sapnap’s grabbing hands.

“Oh you’re going down, sweater vest.”

Karl grins.

“I’d like to see you try, blaze boy.”

The water war goes on for a while till finally Sapnap yells “I GIVE UP, I GIVE UP!”

Karl laughs.

“You gave in quick.”

“Only cause you’re just getting back to swimming, old man.”

“HEY I’M NOT THAT MUCH OLDER THAN YOU!”

“Sap, did you piss in the water?”

“SCREW YOU GEORGE YOU KNOW I RUN HOT-“

The time passes in a blur of swimming and swinging. Sapnap doesn’t register much beyond George’s laughs and Karl’s smiles. When he and George are walking back from picking up their towels, though, George freezes.

“What’s wrong man?”

George just points in front of them.

Karl hadn’t forgotten his towel and was lying out on the shore, back to the sun, which was nothing unusual. His back, though, made Sapnap feel sick.

Even Dream didn’t have that many scars. There were scars covering his shoulders and arms and one large angry burn scar covered the majority of his back. How Sapnap didn’t see it was beyond him. Probably just not paying attention. He knew Karl had scars but not like this. Karl rarely took off his hoodie in the house, but Sapnap thought he’d known sooner.

“Are you guys back yet?” Karl lifts his head to where Sapnap and George stood staring. “What? Is there a bug on my back? Oh god please no get it off, get it off-“

“No! No, you’re fine,” George reassures Karl.

Karl sighs in relief.

“What’s wrong then?”

“What the hell happened to your back-ow!” Sapnap rubs the sore spot where George had elbowed him.

“My…back?”

“It just seems really scarred is all.” George says, giving Sapnap a disapproving side glance.

“Oh, the scars? You guys just noticed?”

“Uh…yea.”

Sapnap and George sit down next to Karl. He sits up, hands twisting awkwardly.

“I guess you’re probably talking about the big one. Uh, Eret got caught…in an explosion. I tried to cover him up. He managed out pretty unscathed, but I got some burns. We had potions, though. And I think a golden apple or two. So it didn’t hurt too badly.”

In bad situations, Sapnap had used a golden apple and a potion. He knew it only went so far in numbing the pain.

“What about that one?” Sapnap points to his chest, where a scar just below his ribs is.

“Oh. That’s where I was killed…uh, first. Like when I was sent to spawn.” Karl fidgets quietly, suddenly shrinking in on his body.

Sapnap doesn’t know how to react.

He knows Karl had it rough, he knew that he had a few scars (from what he assumed was a few bad falls or hostile mobs) but explosions? Getting stabbed in the chest? He understood that Karl’s journey was no walk in the park, but there was obviously something more to it than he had originally thought.

He opens his mouth to talk again, but George pokes him. He gives him a look that says _Don’t push it_.

“Well, we’re glad you’re here,” George says quietly.

Karl nods.

“Me too.”

Suddenly Sapnap shoves George, knocking him into the water.

“WAIT SAPNAP-“

Sapnap laughs. His laugh cuts off as somebody pushes him from behind.

“KARL-“

Karl laughs as Sapnap hits the water.

The day passes and soon they’re walking home, George humming and Karl singing the words loudly and off key.

Sapnap smiles, but his mind is fixed on the scars on Karl’s back and how little he knows of the story.

(It doesn’t hit Sapnap till he’s in bed that creeper explosions healed with potions don’t leave scars. Meaning it wasn’t mobs that blew him up.)

\---

_It’s the middle of the night and Eret can’t breathe._

_There’s something moving outside his window and there’s a shadow on the wall. He sounds like a little kid, but oh God he just can’t do it right now-_

_He stumbles out into the hallway through Tubbo’s open doorway. The hall lights are off, only the kitchen light is on, the door is closed, why is the door closed-?_

_He falls to the floor and huddles against the couch back. He puts his hand to the floor, trying to ground himself._

_I’m…I’m not there. I’m with…Karl? I’m with Karl? Why-why did he put out the fire? Was-was Karl gone? Did he leave? Was he hurt?_

_He feels footsteps through the floorboards. Instantly his hands go to his face, cowering away from the footsteps. Dad knows, Dad found out-_

_“Eret?”_

_Eret chokes._

_“…karl?”_

_“Hey, hey Eret. Listen to me, I’m right here. Can I touch you?”_

_Eret nods sporadically._

_“Okay, okay. Try to match your breathing with mine. You remember this? Just do it again.”_

_Eret nods again._

_“Ok, in 1-2-3-4, hold 1-2-3-4, out 1-2-3-4.”_

_Eret struggles. But his breath slows and soon he’s grounded again by Karl’s hand on his shoulder and his hand on Karl’s chest._

_“Can you breathe now, bud?”_

_Eret hugs Karl. They stay like that for a while._

_“Can you tell me what set it off?” Karl asks quietly._

_Eret draws away, rubbing tears out of his eyes._

_“It-it’s stupid-“_

_“It’s not.”_

_Eret takes a shaky breath._

_“There was something moving outside the window. And a shadow that looked like it had horns, and-“_

_“Hey, it’s ok.” Karl hugs him again as his lungs constrict._

_“Do you wanna sleep with me tonight?”_

_Eret doesn’t say anything, just nods._

_He falls asleep with his head in Karl’s lap, just like they had for years._

_(The next morning, they don’t talk about what happened. Karl doesn’t say a thing as Eret scoots his chair closer to him at breakfast, Eret doesn’t say anything as Karl takes an axe to the tree branch outside Eret and Tubbo’s window.)_

_(He’s not sure why they don’t say a thing.)_

\---

Phil can’t help but feel worried.

The night of the party, he saw Karl starting to breathe heavy and his eyes start to fill with panic. He was able to pull him aside from the festivities and into Tubbo’s room.

“Hey, hey are you alright?”

Karl nodded, then shook his head.

“Alright, that’s ok, yea? Just try to match your breathing with me.”

“Too-too hot.” Karl started to take his hoodie off and Phil helped him. When it was off, he started to calm down, but Phil looked with worry at the scars on his arms.

Most of them were faded, but there were still so many of them.

(Phil knew scars. Some spoke stories of ill-treated wounds. Others told stories of too deep cuts.)

“I’m fine now. Thanks.” Karl had said unsteadily once his breath was stable.

“No, I don’t think you are. Kid…what the hell happened?”

He didn’t expect him to burst into tears and start to tell a story of chasing and swords and loneliness and explosions. They sat there for a little, till Karl’s tears slow to a few sniffs.

“Do the others know?”

“…no. I’d prefer if you didn’t tell them either.”

Phil almost asks why. But then Karl stands up.

“Hey, uh, thanks. That really helped.”

Then he was gone and back out with the party.

Yea, Phil can’t help but feel worried.

The kid acts like nothing had happened, like he was just lost out in the woods for a few years and came back fine. And nobody in the house knew, not even Sapnap. Karl is just there in his thoughts alone.

Phil sighs, then glances out the window to the house across the field. The whole family is making their way across the field, laughing and joking.

Karl and Eret (as always) walk side by side as Eret held Tubbo’s hand and Karl tries to dodge Sapnap’s attempts to mess up his hair. Dream and George talk with Bad, who’s telling some story with wide gestures. Wait…

“WIL?” Phil shouts across the house. “WHEN WERE WE HAVING DINNER WITH DREAM?”

“TONIGHT,” the boy yells from his room.

“Shit-“

Phil starts frantically trying to throw some food together, but he’s no where close to done by the time they reach the door.

He answers the knock with a sheepish smile.

“Sorry, I completely forgot. “

“It’s ok!” Bad says with a smile. “Do you need help with the food?”

It ends up being Bad, Karl and Phil in the kitchen. Bad’s frying the porkchops as Phil and Karl chop the potatoes. Phil jumps when he hears a loud POP from beside him. Karl hisses in pain.

“Are you alright?”

“Yea, just a broken wrist that didn’t heal right.”

Bad glances worriedly over at Karl, but doesn’t say anything.

Phil sighs.

“You should probably get that checked out.”

“Nah, it only hurts when I twist it the wrong way. Sides, I think there’s some bone fragments floating around in there.”

Which doesn’t make the situation any better.

Phil notices that Karl holds himself a little taller. He still gives off the fun-loving happy vibe, but there’s something stormy in his eyes. And he always still has a sword strapped to his side. Whenever there’s a sound outside, his hand goes to it. Whenever someone’s voice goes too loud, his hand goes to it. Often times his hand is just resting on it, like a habit that was never broken.

(Phil knows why he’s scared. He doesn’t say anything.)

(Sometimes he wonders if he should.)

When the food is ready, they all sit down together and start to eat. Which is chaos.

“Wil, pass the potatoes-“

“Tommy you’re reaching over me-“

“Gogy, can you hand me the pork-“

“SAPNAP STOP STEALING MY MELON!”

“THAT WAS TUBBO-”

“Fundy, the water pitcher?”

“OI FUNDY WHAT THE HELL-“

“It’s ok, don’t worry, Eret hand me those napkins, will you?”

“Sorry, sorry-“

“It’s fine, you muffin, just a little water.”

“Bad. Did you just piss yourself?”

“LANGUAGE-“

Utter chaos.

But they’re all there, all a family. Silence finally settles only interrupted by contented mutters and chewing sounds.

“Dang, Phil,” Dream says after wiping up the last of his potatoes with his porkchop. “You really out did yourself.”

“Aww, thanks. It was pretty last minute and I couldn’t have done it without Karl and Bad.”

Eret makes a snorting sound at the end of the table.

“Karl? You helped make this?”

“Yeah, don’t sound so surprised.” Karl crosses his arms defensively.

“I’m not, just…last time you cooked for me I swear it was more coal than cooked.”

There’s a burst of laughter around the table. Karl goes red in embarrassment.

“Hey, that’s not fair, the first time you cooked for me you let all of the meat fall straight into the fire!”

“Yeah, cause I was scared of you.”

Sapnap snorts.

“Scared? Of Karl?”

“Yea. I mean, I just ran across some guy in the woods with a giant honking sword who proceeded to, a week after I knew him, duel a guy and win. I mean, who wouldn’t be scared?”

Sapnap freezes.

“Karl? You WON a fight?” Sapnap looks incredulous. “Did you have any pots? I mean, you had to have pots.”

“What the honk, don’t act like it’s so surprising. No, I didn’t have any pots on me, just my sword.”

Sapnap stares at him.

“And that’s a lame reason,” Karl continues. “Cooking’s cooking.”

Phil notices that he doesn’t say it with heat, just a light jab now.

“If cooking’s cooking, why can’t you do it then?’

“HEY-“

After the meal, everyone’s sitting around, fat and happy. Tommy and Tubbo are on the couch, leaned in one each other sleeping. Dream, George, and Karl are in a heated game of Uno while Wilbur shows Eret and Fundy his new song. (Techno sits off to the side, wary of Bad and Eret.)

Phil smiles and turns back to the dishes. Which there happens to be a lot of.

This is what Phil got for inviting seven people over and _not_ employing them all to do dishes.

“Need a hand?”

Sapnap steps next to Phil.

“I wash, you rinse?”

“Sure.”

Sapnap plunges his hands into the soapy water.

“ _Geez,_ that’s _freezing_!” The water begins to steam as the blaze hybrid’s natural heat starts to warm up the water.

The two wash in silence for a few minutes, letting the sounds of everything happening behind roll over them. Sapnap’s the first to break the silence.

“I saw you at the party. With Karl.”

Phil glances over at Sapnap. Sapnap doesn’t meet his gaze.

“I could see him panicking but you got there before I did. I…he seemed like he needed a minute. So thank you.”

Phil nods.

“Did he say anything, or tell you what happened?”

The question’s quiet. Phil takes a moment to answer.

“Yea. He did. It’s not my story though.”

Sapnap sighs.

“I know. It’s just-“ Sapnap groans. He leans forward on the counter putting his head in his soapy hands.

“Every time I bring it up, he talks about it like he just screwed around in a forest for years, found a kid, and then popped up. And then there’s these ambiguous things he says randomly, like the duel at dinner? But I-I don’t want to push him. I keep thinking he’ll tell me when he’s ready, but what if just never _does_?”

Phil smiles sympathetically.

“I get what you’re saying, mate. I’m not really sure what to do either. Just, he’ll open up. Knowing Karl, it won’t be long.”

Sapnap laughs, but when he glances to where Karl is screaming in triumph, he still looks worried.

_He’ll open up_ , Phil thinks.

_I hope._

(Phil thinks about Wilbur, who’s not that much younger than Karl. He cries some that night, for his sons, both in his house and across the field.)

\---

_Tubbo and Eret are sitting outside, watching the bees and sun go by._

_“’Et?”_

_“Yea Tubbs?”_

_“Can you teleport? Ya know, like Bad?”_

_“Huh?”_

_“Well I just thought cause your eyes glow like his, maybe you can teleport too?”_

_Suddenly Eret’s back in the mansion._

_He’d just teleported to the throne room, proud that he’d made It that far._

_Schlatt’s less than happy._

_“What. Was. That?” He said through gritted teeth._

_“I poofed, Dad!” Eret was still young, still looking for his father’s love. “I poofed and I made it this far!”_

_Schlatt grabbed Eret’s arm and yanked him off the ground._

_“That was unnatural and disgusting. Don’t you_ ever _do that again, do you understand?”_

_“Da-“_

_A slap._

_“Do you understand?”_

_“Y-yes Dad.”_

_Eret had only teleported once more, to put himself between Schlatt and Tubbo._

_The punishment was enough, Eret didn’t try to teleport again._

_He doesn’t think he could if he tried._

_“’Et? You okay?”_

_Eret snaps back to reality._

_“Yeah, yeah I’m fine. Teleporting, huh? I don’t know if I got that.”_

_Tubbo nods. He goes back to watching the bees._

_(Eret tries later that night. He feels the familiar feeling of End particles bubbling in his chest, but all he manages to do is throw up in the toilet._

_He doesn’t tell anyone. He’s not sure why.)_

\---

Karl’s jumpy, and Dream knows it.

He’s been inside and inactive for too long. If you’re on the run and then suddenly just stop, the energy catches up you eventually. He’s tapping his feet constantly, glancing out at windows, and when they are outside, his eyes are shifting back and forth, scanning the area.

(Whether that’s restlessness or habit, Dream’s not sure.)

So one day when they’re outside, Dream says to Karl, “Let’s fight.”

Karl looks surprised.

“What?”

“You told us how you fought somebody and won. Obviously you’ve gotten better.” Karl scowls at the jab. “C’mon, just a short fight?”

Karl sighs, but concedes.

“A short fight.”

Dream grins.

In the field they draw a large circle in the dirt. Dream grabs his sword from inside and Karl unsheathes his from his side.

“You know the rules,” Dream says. “No intent for murder, try to avoid wounds that’ll scar, and-“

“And the second you step out of the circle, you’re done,” Karl finishes. Despite his hesitance, Dream can see Karl’s smile, how he becomes relaxed and falls into a defensive position.

Dream smiles and attacks.

Dream will admit, Karl’s gotten good. He dodges and parries with ease and while he is sweating, his breath has hardly started to go uneven. Dream swings, Karl blocks. Dream stabs, Karl sidesteps. Dream slices, Karl ducks and rolls.

That’s all things mobs can teach you, though. That’s not winning a duel material.

“Oh, c’mon Karl, this is me going easy.”

There’s a smirk.

“Me too.”

Then Karl does the last things Dream expects. He attacks.

Dream, caught by surprise, is barely able to raise his sword in time to block the attack. Their blades stay locked for a second then Dream shoves Karl off his sword, turns, and brings his sword down on Karl. Only to be met by air. _Karl had dodged that quickly?_

Thrown off balance, Dream stumbles forward. Karl’s stepped aside for a second, gathering his breath. He straightens his spine and falls back into his defensive position.

This was not an easy fight like Dream was expecting it to be. Dream realized to win, he’d have to work for it.

Dream adjusts his mask.

(He’s used to fighting in it, but if he’s _really_ fighting without intent to kill, he needs to have at least one eye open.)

“So I’ve gotten better?” Karl says with a shit eating grin.

“A little.”

Dream lunges, moving at a fast pace. Lunge, parry, undercut, sideslash, step back, stab.

Karl, though struggling now, still manages to block them all.

Suddenly, Dream feints right and slashes down left. To which Karl _switches sword hands to block._

Dream’s stunned to say the least. But a fight’s a fight, so he pushes past that for now.

_His blocking with his right arm is a lot better than with his left arm, so if I attack his right now-_

Dream swings to the right, which Karl is barely able to block. It sends him sprawling, right out of the circle limits.

There’s silence for a second. It’s broken by Karl’s laugh.

“Good game, Dream. Ya know, I used to think I could beat you, but I doubt anyone could.”

Dream smiles and reaches out his hand to Karl. He takes it.

“How did you learn to fight like that?”

“Well, ya know. Save your own life a couple times, you get pretty good at fighting.”

Which could have easily been taken for mob fighting. But mobs were idiots. Karl had learned some pretty advanced stuff.

“Who were you fighting though? It has to be more than mobs.”

Karl shuffles his feet uncomfortably.

“The, uh, people who sent me to spawn? They were after me for a little bit at the beginning. I learned how to fight pretty good.”

(Dream’s not an idiot. He puts two and two together. People were constantly trying to kill Karl the first few weeks of his…absence.)

“Oh, what the HONK!”

Dream glances over. Karl’s look at a good sized gash in his arm.

“Oh Karl, holy shit, are you okay? Why didn’t you-“

“I just mended that spot!” Karl groans loudly.

Karl was talking about…the hoodie.

Not the gash in his arm.

“Uh, Karl?”

“Do you think we have sewing stuff in the house? Like, not skin sewing stuff?”

“Karl.”

“That was one of the last bits of the original too,” Karl pouts.

“Karl. What about your arm?”

Karl stopped.

“My…arm?”

“It’s literally dripping blood.”

Karl glances at his arm.

“Oh yeah. That. Uh, do we have bandages in the house?”

“Doesn’t it hurt?” Dream knew that before this all, if Karl got even nicked he’d whine like a baby for hours.

But Karl’s gone then, running to the house and swinging the door open. Dream jogs after him and hears him yell “ERET DO YOU HAVE BANDAGES?”

There’s panicked footsteps and Eret comes sliding down the hallway, bandages in hand, glowing eyes wide.

“What happened, are you okay?”

Karl laughs.

“Yea, just a duel with Dream that went too far.”

He sits down on the edge of the couch. Eret sits beside him and starts to wrap his arm.

“That was pretty stupid, you know. You’re good but you know you could never beat Dream.”

“HEY!”

Eret continues to reprimand, Karl continues to whine, Dream continues to watch.

Eret wraps the wound with ease, tying it perfectly.

_Like he has too much practice_ , Dream’s mind supplies.

After a second, Karl turns to Dream and asks, “Where’s the sewing stuff?”

“The-? Oh! Yeah, it’s just down the hall in the linen closet.”

Karl nods and jogs down the hall.

There’s a bit of an awkward silence between Dream and Eret.

“Did you have to patch him up often?”

Eret nods slowly.

“More often than I would have liked.”

“Was it…was the situation bad for you at home?”

“Very.”

_Dumb question Dream._

“How’d you escape it?”

A bit of a smile.

“Karl saved me.”

The words are simple, but the implications are heavy.

“I’m back!” 

Karl plops back onto the couch. He pulls his hoodie off and starts to sew it up with precise stitching, Eret sitting behind him and resting his head on the shorter man’s shoulder.

(It doesn’t escape Dream’s notice that Karl leans into the touch, how he starts to relax as he feels Eret’s presence. Dream knows the protective feeling, knowing someone’s safe.

It also doesn’t escape Dream’s notice how Karl’s sword is still at his side. Or how whenever Karl duels anybody with Eret watching, Karl puts himself between Eret and his opponent. Or how some nights, Dream walks into Karl sitting on the kitchen counter, reading a book instead of sleeping.

Dream notices it.

He doesn’t say anything.)

\---

_Eret wakes up one night and can’t fall back asleep. He only hesitates a second before tip-toeing out of the room and knocking quietly on Karl’s door._

_There’s no response._

_(Eret would have left, gone back to his own bed to stare at the ceiling for hours till the sun rose, but Karl was a light sleeper. Once Eret accidentally twanged his bow string and Karl was up in a second, ready for danger.)_

_Carefully, Eret pushes the door open._

_Karl’s sitting on the edge of his bed, breathing raggedly. His hands are clutching his hair and there’s vomit on the carpet._

_“Shit, Karl-“ Eret rushes to his side. But he freezes, thinking about what Karl does for him._

_“Can-can I touch you?” he asks quietly._

_A nod._

_Eret carefully puts a hand on his back and says “Try to match your breathing with mine? In 1-2-3-4, hold 1-2-3-4, out 1-2-3-4.”_

_It takes a second, but soon Karl breathes slower._

_“You good?”_

_Karl nods, then shakes his head. Then Karl starts to cry._

_Eret had seen Karl cry before, but now Karl’s crying is silent, just weeping quietly, letting the tears fall onto the carpet._

_Eret wonders how many times Karl’s cried silently in his room._

_Eret wonders how many times_ he _had silently fallen apart and glued himself back together in the darkness of Tubbo’s room._

_He wonders why they don’t tell anyone._

_Then he realizes._

_It’s because they’re broken, and they don’t want anyone to know._

\---

George, for once, is actually awake when it happens.

It’s the middle of the night, but George just can’t sleep. There’s something nagging him in the back of his brain, saying “Don’t fall asleep yet, stay up for a little longer.”

Which sucks. Cause George wants to sleep.

He sighs and goes to grab a drink of water. When he’s in the kitchen, Karl’s there, sitting on the table, sword (diamond, enchanted) by his side, book in hand.

“Shouldn’t you be sleeping?” Karl whispers.

“I could say the same for you.” George whispers back.

“Yea, you’re usually just out like a light by now.”

“Couldn’t sleep.”

Karl nods, then returns to his book.

They both jump at frantic knocking on the door.

Karl’s up first, sword in hand, stalking to the door.

George follows behind. (He doesn’t have a weapon on him, so he grabs a rolling pin. It’ll do.)

The knocking turns to pounding.

“Please! Open the door!”

Karl’s eyes widen. He reaches down and yanks the door open.

There’s a man at the door. He’s ruffled, bruises on his face, bags under his eyes. His hair is hidden by a blue beanie.

“Quackity?”

“Oh thank God-” The man slumps forward. Karl lunges to catch him.

“George, make a spot on the couch.”

George, still in shock, just stares at the man in Karl’s arms. All he can think is _They really keep coming huh?_

“George!”

“What? Oh yeah.”

George clears off a spot on the couch and Karl lays the man down there. Down the hall, he can hear doors being opened and feet coming down the hall.

Dream rounds the corner.

“What’s going on?”

Eret’s close behind him, but when he sees the man on the couch, he rushes toward him.

“Quackity?” The boy gives a questioning glance to Karl, but Karl shrugs.

“He just popped up, he didn’t say much.”

Eret nods silently and starts to assess the man’s condition,

“Karl, who is this?”

“He’s…uh. Well, he kinda- I mean-“

“He was someone who helped us out of a tough situation when we needed it.” Eret says loosely, cutting off Karl. Karl points at him and nods.

“Basically.”

Which doesn’t clear anything up for George. One glance at Dream tells him it’s the same for his as well.

There’s a groan from the couch.

  
The man- Quackity?- sits up and looks between Karl, Dream, Eret, and George. His eyes land on Dream.

“They’re coming for you.”

Dream blanches, eyes wide.

“What?”

“They’re coming for everyone in this house, _he’s_ coming for you,” He directs this at Karl and Eret. Eret freezes.

“Who are they after?” Karl says quietly.

“The Masked Man, the Hoodie Man, and the two kids. Any other hybrids will be captured, any other humans will be sent to spawn.”

“Wait wait wait, stop.” George says. “Who are you? Who’s after us? And how do we know we can trust you?”

“This is Quackity,” Karl says. “He helped us. A lot. Exploded a place so we could escape when he was still in there. And…”

Dream looks expectantly at Karl.

“Who’s after us?”

“…Schlatt. Eret and Tubbo’s dad. The guy who sent me to spawn.”

Silence.

Oh how horribly the pieces fell into place. But it made sense. It explained (though indistinctly) how Eret and Karl were connected.

Even better it put a name to the person who took Karl from them.

“He’s coming? Here?” Dream asks.

Quackity nods.

“He knows where you are. He’s hired people, and they’ll be here any minute.” 

There’s silence, almost for a solid minute.

Karl moves first.

He rushes to the hall closet and pulls out a sword (diamond, enchanted.)

“George, catch!” He tosses it to George, who fumbles and barely manages to not cut himself.

“Since when do we have swords in the closet?” George asks incredulous.

“Since I wanted to be safe,” is the quick reply.

He turns to Dream.

“Phil’s fought, right?”

Dream nods.

“Techno and Wilbur too?”

“Karl we can’t just ask some kids to fight-“

“We’re not. We’ll take Eret and Tubbo over there. If he’s after them then they can’t stay here. Set up Wilbur and Techno to keep them safe. Phil can choose to fight or guard, but I feel like he won’t mind if we put the kids there.”

Karl turns to Quackity.

“Estimated numbers?”

“No clue. Heard the plan and booked it from there.”

Karl groans in frustration.

“Wait, can’t we just run?” George asks. “If we just go, they won’t be able to find us…right?”

Karl draws in a deep breath.

“No. If you run, they’ll chase after you. They’ll be relentless. They’ll make sure we don’t sleep at night, that we’re scared of every sound. They won’t stop until everyone of us is captured or sent to spawn three times over.” There’s something dark behind Karl’s eyes. It terrifies George.

“We can’t run, or else they’ll chase after us. The best we can do is to defend, scare them enough that they stay away.”

George swallows and nods.

“Then let’s prepare.”

-

George watches in the fading light as Phil gives instructions to Wilbur and Techno. They nod gravely, weapons in hand, standing protectively in front of Tubbo, Tommy, and Eret.

Phil hugs the boys and whispers something into their ears.

Dream kneels in front of Tommy and Tubbo, talking to them reassuringly. George catches him asking if they can be brave, to which both boys nod.

Karl hugs Eret tightly. It’s funny to George how Karl is shorter yet still somehow is giving the hug rather than taking it.

George had already hugged Tubbo, but he wants to do it again, just to tell him one last time that he’s safe. But Quackity puts a hand on Dream’s shoulder. Dream stands up.

“Barricade the door,” Dream says. “Don’t come out of there unless one of us gets you or they get in. If they do, you guys run.”

And then they’re gone.

And it’s just the adults. ( _Barely adults,_ a voice in George’s head whispers. _Shut up_ , George whispers back.)

Dream, now standing, takes his sword (diamond, enchanted) and adjusts his mask. (One eye showing, one eye hidden. The sight itself sends shivers down George’s spine.)

Phil sighs and grabs his ax (netherite, enchanted). He looks worried, but overall sad. His eyes keep wandering between the young adults. George can almost read his mind. So young, so experienced.

Sapnap’s face is still. There’s no fear, no worry. Just a blank face and a dark fire behind his eyes. His sword (netherite, because it caught fire and stayed on fire longer, something Sapnap used to his advantage often) is in his hands, his shield is on his arm.

(It strikes George then how little armor they have. The most is a few pieces of iron armor, given to the kids just in case.)

Bad is anxious. He’s wringing his hands, End particles swirling around him like they always did when he was stressed. His short sword (diamond, plain and simple) is on his back, his crossbow hanging on his side, his knives strapped to his leg. But George knows Bad, he knows he won’t run, not if there were lives on the line.

Karl and Quackity stand close, but are still separated by a few feet. Karl’s sword is in his hand, and he has nothing more. Quackity has a sword too (iron, brittle), but on his side there’s a bag and in his hand there’s a flint and steel. Karl asks about the bag and Quackity opens it. George catches a glimpse of TNT. Despite the sobriety of the moment George thinks _Great, we have two arsonists on our hands._

And George is…

George is not sure what he is.

He has his sword (rather, the diamond enchanted one Karl had tossed him) his bow and quiver. He’s not ready to fight, that’s for sure. But to protect?

Yeah, George thinks he’s ready for that.

\---

When they come, they come all at once.

It starts with an arrow that flies at Dream. Dream dodges easily. The first arrow fired of a long battle sinks into the ground behind him.

He grips sword tighter, looking into the darkness from where the arrow came. The people beside him are restless, but stand their ground.

Then Dream hears the unmistakable sound of a fire charge being thrown.

_Shit._

The ground beside him explodes in flames. Dream dives to the side, narrowly avoiding another volley of fire. Everybody else (besides Sapnap) ducks to avoid the fire.

They use that advantage to attack.

They come from the woods, swords flashing. A few more fire charges are thrown, some too close for comfort.

Dream stands up abruptly. Someone swings there sword at him. He blocks easily, counters, and stabs the man just under his chest plate.

As soon as he’s gone, another takes his place.

Dream fights, drawing people away from the houses. Finally, he stops for a second to look up and around him.

The field is on fire, the flowers and bushes Tubbo loves up in flames.

And of course, the mobs choose tonight to come at full force.

Zombies stagger into the field, attracted by the light of the fire. Skeletons and giant spiders enter the battle. Spoofs of enderman are seen here and there. It takes some of the pressure, with their opponents having to fight mobs to stay alive, but it adds stress to Dream too.

Dream brings his sword down on another person, watching as they disappear into smoke. From behind him he hears the groan of a zombie, but when he turns there’s already an arrow in its forehead.

_Thanks George,_ he thinks, but he doesn’t stop. He keeps rushing forward, protecting the field and the two houses.

To his right, Sapnap is fighting like a demon. His sword is blazing with fire and his body is wreathed in flames. His shield lays on the ground, long forgotten as it turned into charred wood. His skin is gold in the fire light, his eyes wide with fierce loyalty, loyalty that allows him to take down man after man.

George is behind him, bow raised, arrows flying, the fire reflecting in his goggles. His sword, stained with black zombie blood, is stabbed into the ground beside him as he fires arrows. Dream glances up just in time to see a zombie come out of the woods, right behind George.

“GEORGE!” Dream screams. George turns, but there’s a flash of End particles and Bad’s there, slicing through the zombie, before disappearing, teleporting again.

Bad’s hood is thrown back, and a few knives are missing from his belt. He’s teleporting right and left, cutting down mobs, blocking blows. Dream can see his exhaustion, but he keeps teleporting.

There’s an explosion that makes Dream jump. _Creepers? More fire chargers_? But instead he sees Quackity, running towards a mass of mobs with a handful of lit TNT. He throws it, turns, and stabs through someone with a broken iron sword.

In his distraction, Dream didn’t see the sword coming for him until the last second. He barely blocks it, falling to the ground. The man stands above him, a malicious smile on his face. There’s a _fwoosh_ and the sound of a blade meeting flesh. The man dissolves into smoke. A familiar face from below a bucket hat smiles down at Dream. Phil reaches out his hand. Dream takes it.

“Stay on your feet, mate. Nobody wins a fight on the floor.” His wings spread, and he launches back up into the air.

“You’d be surprised,” Dream mutters. He grips his sword and dives back into the fray.

At some point, between the fire and the explosions Dream ends up beside Karl. Karl, who before couldn’t hold a sword right for more than 10 minutes, is taking on 2 or 3 people, falling in rhythm beside Dream, slashing and stabbing with precision and ease. Dream doesn’t like violence but it was like listening to a perfect symphony.

And despite the odds, it seemed like they were winning.

Then a sword slashes across his back and he screams.

He crumples to the ground. He swings blindly. There’s a poof of smoke, but Dream just can’t get back up, _he can’t get back up._

He hears the twang of several bows and then something white and green comes streaking out of the sky, hitting the ground with force.

“ _PHIL-_ “ Someone yells.

There’s a poof of End particles, and Bad’s in front of Dream.

“Here,” Bad sounds tired, high strung, scared. He put something into Dream’s hands. “I made a few potions before the fight-“

There’s a sword protruding from Bad’s chest and a garbled sound from his throat. He disappears in a puff of end particles and smoke. Somebody stomps their foot on the pot in his hand. The glass shatters, cutting his skin.

“Boss wants you alive,” someone says. “Which is a shame. How many get the honor of saying they killed Dream?”

“Not many,” A flaming sword slices through the man and Sapnap comes into view.

He looks like shit, gripping his shoulder, lava blood and soot covering him. The triumph in his eyes is gone.

“They got Bad. And George. Phil’s down,” Sapnap grabs Dreams hand, avoiding his back. Sapnap slings Dream’s arm over his shoulder. “And you-“

An arrow comes out of nowhere, hitting Sapnap in his shoulder. He grunts in pain, and the two drop. Sapnap’s head collides with a rock on the ground, and he’s out cold.

The (battle)field is quiet, save the crackle of fire.

Then there’s footsteps.

A slow clap.

“Here we are.”

Dream tries to sit up and look at the man talking. He’s walking slowly, examining the burning field. He passes Phil, who stand up. The man snorts and kicks him in the stomach, sending him back to the ground with a groan.

“I’ll admit, I’m very impressed.”

As he walks closer, Dream can see him better. Bile rises in his throat. Long twisting goat horns protrude from his head.

_Schlatt._

“You managed to take down almost _all_ of my men. I heard you were good, but man! I never thought you were this good!”

There’s an explosion. Quackity stands up, beanie lost, sword splintered, TNT in hand. Schlatt looks at him with disgust and waves a hand. An arrow sinks into Quackity’s throat and he’s smoke too. Schlatt turns back to Dream.

“Humans, am I right?” He laughs again.

“Oh, I know you’re a human, but one of the better ones. Sides, I have all hybrids I want here on the battlefield. Except that Enderman one. He would’ve been meddlesome.”

Schlatt continues to walk forward. There’s just a few men by his side, trailing behind him as he talked. _If I could just stand up-_

“Now, of course, I’m also after the other hybrids. So I’ll ask you this.”

Schlatt’s standing over him now.

“Where are my kids?”

Dream spits at him.

“Go to hell.”

Schlatt’s gaze goes dark.

“You know, I had somebody in the same exact situation as you. He refused to talk. Things didn’t end well for him. I suggest you say something. Where. Are. My. Kids?”

“Screw you.”

“You have nowhere to go. Everyone is gone, dead or injured. You’re all alone.”

“He’s not.”

Schlatt whips around.

Karl’s standing, gripping his arm, leaning on his sword. But he’s standing. He’s determined.

“As soon as I made it home, I made a promise that none of my family would never be alone again.”

He straightens his spine and holds his sword up.

“Get. The _hell_. Away from my family.”

\---

_When Dream screams, Eret’s about to lose it._

_“We have to go out there!” He all but screams at Techno._

_“We can’t. They told us to be here, to be **safe**.” _

_“What about them? What if they just disappear off the face of the earth like Karl did?”_

_“Then we’ll find them. We’ll get them out.”_

_“You CAN’T. That’s the whole point. **I** only made it out cause my dad had a traitor and Karl saved me from an exploding building! You fight, you’re good at it. We just have to **help**.”_

_Eret can see his resolve breaking, but then Wilbur steps forward._

_“Eret, I understand. I want to fight too. But we can’t. We have to protect them.” He points at Tommy and Tubbo, who are huddled together, watching their siblings fight, listening to their parents die._

_(Fundy’s by them, trying to comfort them, but the fear in his eyes showed he was scared too.)_

_“PHIL- “someone screams outside. Techno’s head whips to the barricaded door. His hands go for his sword._

_“That was your DAD,” Eret yells. “Something’s happening, we have to **help**!” _

_They stand in silence, staring at each other for what feels like an eternity. The noise of the battle outside was distant, but almost deafening. Wilbur’s_

_“We have orders. We follow them.”_

_“WE’RE NO SOLDIERS!”_

_“THEN WE SHOULDN’T HAVE TO FIGHT.” Wilbur roars back._

_Eret steps back. Then he picks up his bow and quiver and pointedly glares at Wilbur._

_“Fine. You protect the kids. I’ll fight.”_

_“Eret, you can’t leave.”_

_But Eret’s not paying attention. Instead he focuses on the End particles in his chest._

_“That was unnatural and disgusting,” his father’s voice whispers in his head._

_“Fuck you,” he mutters back._

_He imagines the rooftop in his mind’s eye. He draws all the End particles to himself. Then he poofs._

_-_

_Eret hadn’t actually thought he would make it to the roof. So when his feet makes contact with the roof, he stumbles for a second, struggling to keep his balance. And he sits for a second._

_He teleported._

_He_ teleported _._

_He’s almost giddy. But then the smell of smoke snaps him back to reality._

_The field is on fire. There’s blood and mob bodies scattered all over the place. Phil’s crumpled on the ground, one of his wings bent at a crooked angle. Sapnap and Dream and lying on the ground next to each other, Dream with a large gash across his back and Sapnap is lying deathly still. Quackity’s crawling towards his bag of TNT, and Karl-_

_Where was Karl?_

_Below him, he can hear the panic from his teleporting. Wilbur’s borderline yelling. Eret stomps on the roof a few times, hoping that’ll shut them up._

_The field is deathly silent._

_Then a slow clap starts up._

_And Schlatt walks onto the field._

_He says something, but Eret can’t focus. His brain is blank and his hands start to go clammy._

_His vision starts to tunnel and something tightens in his chest. He crumples, panic filling his lungs for what feels like hours._

_He needs Karl._

_Where was Karl?_

_Then he looks out._

_There._

_And Schlatt-_

_Schlatt was yelling at him._

_And Karl was crying._

_Silently._

_Suddenly everything went into sudden clarity._

_Karl needed him._

_Eret picked up his bow and drew an arrow. Knocking it, he stood up._

_The men around Schlatt were advancing towards Karl._

_Eret took a deep breath, drew back, and fired._

\---

Dream watches in horror as Schlatt smiles.

“Ahh, the hoodie man. Bane of my existence for what, four years? Five?”

“Five.” Karl mutters.

“How’s the trauma going? Living on the run for that long must really suck. And the number of times you died? Oof, I gotta say I’m not sure how you’re still sane.”

Dream, despite the situation, can’t stop the soft, “Karl?” from escaping his mouth.

Schlatt looks down at Dream and laughs.

“So you’re saying they didn’t know? Oh this is just too good! I bet you were trying to be nice and strong for them, huh? Trying to block it all out? Oh, trust me bud.” Schlatt lifts his shirt, revealing layers of burn scars. “Trauma never goes away.”

Schlatt turns to Dream now.

“So I bet you didn’t know that he’s been killed. Countless times. That he’s fought my men over and over again. That every _second_ of these _goddammed_ past _five years_ he’s lived in constant fear that someone’s gonna come at him, take him away to somewhere horrible. That he almost EXPLODED along with all of my hard work.”

Karl looks angry, sad, confused. And broken. So very broken.

“You see this man?” He points at Karl

“This is a weak man. This is a BROKEN man, who couldn’t even defend himself. And _this_ is who you are putting your trust in?” Schlatt laughs.

Dream feels fire burning in him. He tries to stand, but Schlatt kicks him back down.

When he looks back at Karl, he’s shaking.

“I might be broken,” he says, deathly quiet. “But shattered pieces still cut.”

He looks at Schlatt with eyes filled with raw anger, raw pain, raw _fury._

Dream is terrified

“Then cut me.”

Karl grips his sword. Schlatt waves a finger and the men at his side advance.

Something whistles through the air and hits one of the men. He yells, then disappears into smoke.

Dream follows the arrow to the roof of Phil’s house, where Eret’s unmistakable cloak flaps in the wind.

Taking the hesitation to his advantage, Karl screams and attacks.

Karl fights like a mad man. His movements, once precise and fluid, are blocky, accented with pain and screams.

But even when a sword catches his legs, even when an arrow hits his shoulder, he continues to fight.

He cuts through person after person, stepping through the smoke with a scream to meet another sword. His eyes become wide, almost crazed, tears streaming down his face as his sword moves at a frightening pace. Dream tries to stand up, to help, but Schlatts kicks him down again, making him cry out in pain as his foot met the gash on his back.

Karl’s eyes widen and he slashes through the last man. He runs at Schlatt and knocks him to the ground.

In one swing, Karl brings down his sword. Schlatt gives out a guttural scream.

Dream looks horrified at the broken stump where Schlatt’s horn used to be.

“If you _EVER,_ so much as come near my family, I _will_ have your other horn. And I _will_ hurt you _so badly_ , you’ll _wish_ permadeath was a thing.” Karl’s voice is shaking from tears, from pain but his gaze doesn’t waver.

Schlatt doesn’t say a word.

“I know I am broken; I _know_ I’m weak. But this family is all I have. So _they_ are the thing I will protect _no matter what_.”

And then Schlatt is gone in a puff of smoke.

Karl trembles as he rises to his feet. His hoodie is almost unrecognizable. He staggers towards Dream.

He collapses at Dream’s feet.

Dream, ignoring the burning pain in his back, his head, his- (no. Karl was important now)- crawls to Karl.

Karl’s face is pressed into the dirt. When Dream turns him over, he whimpers.

“Dream?”

“Karl?”

“Do-do you think I’m weak? Or broken?”

…

“No, Karl. I think you’re the strongest of us all.”

\---

_Eret fires his bow for as long as he can, mainly targeting the archers in the trees. But soon an arrow hits him in the shoulder. He yelps in pain and starts to fall, barely teleporting in time before he hits the ground._

_When he’s back in the house, everyone’s crowding around him, asking him questions. His brain starts to fuzz, but someone yells “EVERYBODY SHUT IT.”_

_Everyone goes quiet._

_Fundy pulls Eret off to the side to bandage his shoulder. The house is deathly silent._

_Eret dozes off at some point._

_When he wakes up, someone’s pounding on the door. Wilbur and Techno are sword ready, facing the door._

_“Boys? Are you all alright in there?”_

_The weak but unmistakable voice of Phil filters through the furniture put in front of the door._

_Techno tears down their makeshift blockade and flings the door open. Phil’s hunched over, gripping the door frame for help. But he’s standing._

_“Dad-“ Wilbur and Techno rush out to hug Phil, but Phil stops them._

_  
“_ _Please, no hugging. I kinda hurt all over. Just…help me to Dream’s house.”_

_With a nod, Wilbur goes underneath one arm, Techno under the other. Fundy hugs Tommy close and Eret holds Tubbo’s hand._

_Together they walk across the field._

_When they walk into the house, the only person moving is George, who looks too pale to be standing._

_Tubbo rushes towards George with a cry of “GOGY” and a sob. George kneels and hugs Tubbo hard. Tears fall from behind his goggles._

_“Oh thank God, you’re safe.”_

_After a few minutes, George puts Phil into a bed. Then he sits down and tells everyone the news._

_“I was…killed from behind by an arrow. I respawned pretty quickly, but by the time I was able to stand, everything was done._

_Bad was stabbed from behind. He has a few broken ribs and overexertion. He was teleporting right and left during the entire thing._

_Quackity got shot in the throat. He’s also suffering from a few TNT burns, but he’ll be okay with a few pots._

_Sapnap didn’t die, though he has a pretty deep wound on his stomach and a nasty concussion. He’ll be fine too.”_

_There George hesitates._

_“What about Dad?” Tubbo says._

_(He’s really not supposed to be listening. He and Tommy are supposed to be asleep. They just wouldn’t leave.)_

_George sighs._

_“Dream has a few superficial wounds, but the one I’m most worried about is the one on his back. It’s pretty deep, there might be some nerve damage._

_“Phil…has a broken wing and a couple of arrow wounds on his back and legs. He’ll be ok.”_

_Silence._

_“What about Karl?”_

_More silence._

_“George?”_

_“He lost a lot of blood. He’s gonna have a lot more scars, that’s for sure. Worst come to worst, his spawn is set.” George says quietly. Then he turns back down the hallway._

_Which doesn’t sound good at all._

\---

When Sapnap wakes up, all he has is a pounding headache.

He groans, but when he tries to sit but there’s pain in his stomach.

“Sap, you up?”

Through the haze, he registers that George spoke.

“…ngh ‘orge?”

There’s a cold hand on his forehead.

“Here, you have to drink this.”

A vial was pressed to his lips, the familiar cinnamon scent of a regen pot met his nose. He drank.

After a second, his headache started to subside. As his head cleared, the pain in his stomach became sharper.

“Wha’ happened?”

“Do you…not remember?”

Sapnap sits for a second.

Then it all rushes back.

He tries to sit up, but George shoves him back down.

“Woah, woah, stay down. Everybody’s safe now, okay? They’re safe.”

Sapnap nods.

“I’ll tell you the whole story once the Regen kicks in. I think you might need it.”

-

With some help from George, Sapnap’s able to make it the couch.

The house seems strangely silent. The only other signs of life are the abandoned bowls of cereal at the kitchen table and the pieces of paper strewn across the floor.

“Everyone’s asleep right now. It’s kind of late. I just thought you might want to get out of your room.”

Sapnap nods.

“What happened?”

George sighs.

“What do you remember?”

“I…we were fighting. We were almost winning. Then Dream got hit, and Phil- he fell out of the sky? And I ran over because Bad got killed and someone was going to stab Dream. I picked him up, and then we fell and-“

Sapnap stops.

“…and…I think that’s all I remember.”

George nods.

“Yeah. You fell and hit your head pretty bad on a rock. You’ve been out cold for a few days.”

“Quackity got shot. I did too. Dream was stuck on the ground with you. And Schlatt was trying to get information about where the kids were. The kids are ok. Don’t worry.

“Dream was on the ground and he was helpless and he couldn’t get up. And then Karl showed up.”

George fidgets with his hands some before continuing.

“Schlatt…he revealed some things about Karl’s absence. He called Karl weak and-and broken. And then Karl fought the remaining people and killed Schlatt.

“But he got really injured and he collapsed out in the field.”

George takes in a shaky breath.

“I was respawned by then with a few Regen pots in my system. I was able to go out there and get you guys and lay you down. Phil got the kids. Everyone’s here now.”

“How’s everyone doing?”

“Everyone who had to respawn is awake now. Bad’s still in bed. He teleported too much, he’s in some pain. Phil’s healing. His wing will be fine. Dream woke up. He’s still in bed though. The slice to his back messed with him some.”

A pause.

“Karl?”

A deep breath.

“He hasn’t fully woke up yet. I’ve force fed him a few pots, but there’s only so far those can go. He-he got really banged up, Sap.

“Eret hasn’t left his side the entire time.”

“I’ll be honest, Sap. I almost killed him in the field. He just looked, he looked like he was in so much pain. The only thing that stopped me was I didn’t want to make it worse.”

George looks down into his hands.

They’re shaking like a leaf.

“George?”

“Does it make me bad, Sap? That I almost killed my friend, or that I didn’t?”

Sapnap doesn’t say a word. He chest ignores the pain in his stomach and hugs George close.

\---

_Eret’s beside Karl’s bed, reading silently._

_It’s been three days (maybe four? He really stopped keeping count) since the battle in the field. The arrow wound on Eret’s shoulder is healed with the help of some healing pots. (Which at first he refused. Then George explained too many healing pots could do more harm than good. So Eret had taken it,)_

_Every so often Tubbo will walk in with a tray of food._

_Every so often, Karl will mutter in his sleep._

_Every so often, George or Techno will walk in and ask about him, or change his bandages._

_Every so often, Eret will turn the page of his book, finally able to keep his mind off the past few days long enough to understand the string of words on the page._

_He manages to turn a page when he hears something next to him._

_“I feel more bandage than skin.”_

_Eret’s head snaps to Karl. His eyes are blearily peeked open, glancing from one side of the room to another._

_“…Karl?”_

_Eret breaks down into tears. Karl reaches out his arm as best as he can in an awkward side hug. Eret leans into it enough so Karl and get his other arm around him._

_“It’s ok.”_

_“We’re safe now.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please tell me if i should write more :)
> 
> DON'T FORGET YOU MUST READ This Wasn't Planned, But It'll Work Out CAUSE IT'S LITERALLY GOLD, LIKE THEY RIGHT SO GOOD. I'M LEGIT CONVINCED HE'S THE BEST AUTHOR IN THE FANDOM
> 
> also:
> 
> my wilbur: We'Re NoT sOlDiErS, wE sHoUlDn'T hAvE tO fIgHt  
> canon wilbur: Let's send literal children to go fight

**Author's Note:**

> PLEASE GO READ "THIS WASN'T PLANNED BUT IT'LL WORK OUT" 
> 
> IT IS A PIECE OF GOD WORK
> 
> AND LIKE I SAID BEFORE THIS ONLY WORKS UP TO THE 9TH CHAPTER 
> 
> THANK YOU!!


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